Sorry for the long silence. I got caught up in reading Worm, a web serial linked to by the author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Both good reads, if you have too much time on your hands (does anyone ever actually have that problem?).
This topic is not about international bankers or communist revolutionaries. It is more of a followup on the earlier post questioning the mysterious nature of the pre-Talmudic Jewish community in Bavel, raising further questions in the same vein. It is based on a vort I read from Rav Shimon Schwab regarding a difficulty with the traditional timeline. According to traditional sources, the second Beit haMikdosh was built 70 years after the destruction of the first, in the sixth year of the reign of Daryavosh, stood for 420 years, and was then destroyed by the Romans. The destruction incontrovertibly took place in the year 70 CE, which would place the exile at 420 BCE and the rededication at 350 BCE. However, this is not consistent with external evidence. Unlike archaeological questions relating to the yetziat Mitzraim (the exodus) or the conquest of the land, this is not a challenge from absence. Rather, there is solid evidence that the Babylonians did indeed destroy the first Beit haMikdosh, but in the year 586 BCE, and the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great was indeed 70 years later, in the year 516 BCE. How are we to account for a missing 166 years? Even for those who doubt the truth of revelation or the veracity of biblical events lost in the mists of antiquity should have a hard time accepting that the Jews, with a large and well educated population living in Persia, would have simply been mistaken on such a scale about relatively recent history. It would be equivalent to all the Catholics in America, including academic historians, believing that the American Revolution took place immediately after the founding of Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, despite knowing the correct chronology from Columbus to that point. Even before modern archaeology sharpened the question, there are a number of problems internal to the text, and there was some knowledge of classical records that disagreed. Rav Schwab points to a number of commentators who attempt to explain the irregularity of the dates given, generally with extremely unsatisfying hypotheses. His alternative theory is quite intriguing, whether or not you find it convincing. In the book of Daniel, the eponymous prophet is told in a vision to "shut up the words and seal the book," understood as keeping secret something that could reveal information about the Messianic era. There is also a reference in the Talmud to Book of Genealogies, saying, "Since the day that the Book of Genealogies was hidden, the strength of the Sages has been impaired and the light of their eyes has been dimmed." This is believed to be a commentary on Divrei haYamim (Chronicles), which was traditionally written by Ezra shortly after the second Beit haMikdosh was dedicated. Rav Schwab theorizes that there was a deliberate effort to alter the dates and hide books that would reveal the truth in obedience to Daniel's command. He also notes that around this time (early second Temple period), rabbinic Jews switched to the Greek count of years, even on sacred documents, despite the fact that this left them open to ridicule from rival sects, and maintained the Seleucid dates for nearly a thousand years before switching back. Why would they do such a thing? Well, it would be hard to switch a calendar in current use by over a century without anyone noticing...
The theory is admittedly tenuous, but I haven't thought of a better way to explain the data. What would altering the calendar by 166 years do to hide information about moshiach? Not entirely sure, but maybe I should keep my eyes open when I'm 84 and the seventh millenium starts according to his count. Welcome to the year 5940. Maybe. (If you're into the spooky stuff, the gematria of "the secret of Daniel" is 165. Whether or not you accept that gematrias can be off by one, years certainly can be, as long as the new year dates are different).
Some interesting things from the past weeks: during Hanukah, I saw one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. Brilliant colors complemented nicely by Jerusalem stone. Also weather related, snow is crazy here. Biggest blizzard in over 150 years. Shut down the city completely for the better part of a week. Things are getting back to normal now, but there is still some way to go. A member of the town council came in Tuesday to thank the bochurim for their help clearing streets and sidewalks; when one guy asked if there was more to do, his response was, "Yeah, but we're going to take a break. Maybe we'll do some more on Friday. We're thinking about it." Ah, Israel. Between Hanukah break and snow shutting down the yeshiva, and the temptations of immoderate internet fiction consumption, my sleep schedule got rather thrown off, but I'm working my way back.
Two weeks ago, I had an exciting Shabbat adventure. I was hired with a couple other guys to do a catering gig in Beitar, but we got on the wrong bus (right number, wrong company), and ended up in Ariel. Luckily, a student at the university there overheard us trying to figure out what to do on the busride up, and she set us up with a place to stay and get meals, and we hung out around the dorm-trailers with her and her friends. Aside from a couple olim, not much English in that part of the country, but it was good to practice Hebrew and see the not-quite-secular side of Israel. Still pretty Orthodox by American standards. Our host for sleeping and lunch was pretty interesting as well; one of the evacuees from Gush Katif, about as Dati Leumi as it gets. Gave us some tasty exotic fruits, fresh from his garden. I was surprised to learn that Dati Leumi nusach is Sfard (chassidic), because the government decided that it was a good compromise between Ashkenazi and Sephardi.
